Legacy's Success; Re: why I'm using Ubuntu instead of Fedora ATM

[Eric Rostetter]

Quoting David Eisenstein <deisenst at gtw.net>:

> As a long-time contributor to and advocate for the Fedora Legacy
> Project, I have to say that, over most of its life, Legacy did not fail
> its mission, if one were to consider Legacy's mission to provide
> security updates to packages that people really cared about.  Why?

I agree completely.  It was really when we decided the drop RHL and
FC1 that things fell apart, IMHO.

Of course, it didn't help that other options came along, but this is
exactly what _should_ happen.  I joined Fedora Legacy when Red Hat
dropped RHL and didn't provide any _upgrade_ path (the only supported
RHEL install was a fresh install, not an upgrade from RHL).  My only
other option was to switch to a non-RH distro, which would be as bad
as a fresh RHEL install (but cheaper perhaps).  Well, a few years
later, we have lots of RHEL options (Centos, Whitebox, etc) and a
community of users who will help provide community support to those
who upgrade to those from RHL.   We also have of course Fedora Core
and its ability to upgrade between releases. So Fedora Legacy is no
longer the only option.  As such, it isn't needed as much.  As such,
it is natural that participation would fall off some.

> For the longest time, I personally cared about Fedora Core 1, and also
> cared about the old Red Hat Linux releases 7.3 and 9.0.  The project

Yes, I was in it for the RHL only.  When that was killed off, I had no
real reason to stay (but I did anyway).


> And what about Red Hat
> Linux 7.3 and 9?  Even longer!  For these three releases, and also
> perhaps FC2, this project was more successful than perhaps the founders
> of Fedora Legacy had hoped or dreamed it would be.

Yes, and I think that was a problem too.  Jesse didn't want to keep
supporting RHL, but most of the community was most interested (IMHO)
in RHL, and hence we had a problem.  Jesse was most gracious in allowing
us RHL folks to hijack his FC project, to tell the truth...

> A lot of the work towards the end of the useful life of Fedora Legacy
> was done by one man:  Marc Deslauriers, to which all Fedora Legacy
> users owe a LOT (and I mean a *LOT*) of thank-you's!  He was the one

Yes, THANK YOU Marc!  I really appreciate all you (and the other core
people) did!

> Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Marc!!!  Your example is one we
> should all be committed enough to follow and emulate!

Indeed!

> for Marc.  I believe the few who did most of the work finally burned
> out.

Probably.  But also lost some interest, when the versions they cared
most about were discontinued, I suspect.  That was the case for me
at least.

> My assessment is this:  If legacy failed it did so in these areas:
>    * Management of contributor resources

Not sure what that means really.

>    * Devotion of people who knew how to motivate and cause people
>      in the contributing community to feel valued, motivated and
>      special, and to give a voice to those who cared.

Definately.

> Legacy rarely had meetings, had no board to speak of, and therefore no
> clear mechanism of accountability.

Yes.  Getting any changes made that were not coming from Jesse, Marc or
David, or Pekka seemed impossible.  My suggestions on how to improve
the situation never got anywhere...

> I hope the good folks of Legacy remember Legacy *not* as a failed
> experiment, but as one that lasted longer and did better than folks had
> any right to expect.

Yes, that is about how I'll remember it.  And I think all those who joined
for RHL support will remember it that way too.

> 	Warm regards,
>
> 	David Eisenstein

And I'd like to thank David for all he did for the project too!

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Go Longhorns!